Just how good is the good news of the gospel that you believe? Is it so good that, frankly, it seems at times almost too good to believe? I would invite you to pause and read again the account of the raising of Jesus' friend Lazarus in John 11:17-45.

"Do You Believe This?"

Jesus' resurrection was not a resumption of the same kind of life he had before, as was the case with Lazarus (see John 11). Lazarus was raised to resume his old life and to die again. Christ was raised and death no longer has any hold on him. The life of the age to come has been realized in him. Let us explore further what Jesus' resurrection tells us about his person and work for us.

What the Resurrection Proves

Resurrection! What is it? You haven't experienced it, at least in the physical sense. Many of you have experienced it in a spiritual sense, thoughand you know that resurrection is a radical transformation. You have been raised from being dead in sin to being alive in Jesus Christ. You have been transformed from being a sinner to being a saint.

What Is Resurrection?

At this time of year, we generally remember in a special way the death and resurrection of one whom the angel Gabriel told Mary would "be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end" (Luke 1:32-33).

That promise reflected what God had said long years ago to the great King David, that on his throne descendants would ruleyes, even eternally. David and his son Solomon believed God's promise. They conducted their lives in the light of that wonderful truth (see 1 Kings 8:25-26). Read more

The doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is a cardinal doctrine of the Christian religion. For twenty centuries, the church has confessed, as part of the Apostles' Creed, "I believe in ... the resurrection of the body."

The resurrection was prominent in the apostles' preaching. They startled the world by preaching that their religion was based upon the resurrection of the deadthe rising of dead bodies to life again. The proof was that Jesus Christ, the Lord of heaven, became man and was put to death for the sins of his people, and then rose again on the third day for their salvation. Read more